After graduation, Alaric decides to move back to Durham—he doesn't tell anybody.
Jeremy seems content with Bonnie, and Alaric knows they're going to California next year after Jeremy graduates. Alaric doesn't know what Elena's going to do, and suspects she has a few years before that decision is made, but between both Salvatore brothers, Alaric assures himself of her safety.
He doesn't think about Caroline much at all, for she never factored much into his decision making before, so he can honestly say he's surprised when she shows up at his apartment in Durham in the fall.
"Hi, Mr. Saltzman," she says. She's wearing a smile, and Alaric can't help but smile fondly back at her.
He grows serious then, because his mind can only come up with one reason why Caroline Forbes is literally knocking on his door. "Is something wrong?" he asks, ignoring her generally sunny disposition.
Her smile gets wider, which he had thought impossible up until that point. "No," she says, shaking her head. "Why would something be wrong?"
"You tracked me down," he states simply, as if that explains it.
For her it must, however, for her expression starts to mirror his. "We didn't like you simply because you were useful, you know."
Alaric sighs. He steps aside and motions for her to come inside, and then he remembers. Caroline has always looked too innocent to be a vampire, and sometimes he forgets.
Belatedly, he says the words. "Come in, Caroline."
She steps across the threshold tentatively, and when she notices how he notices her hesitation, she smiles sheepishly. "Sometimes I think fear it won't work," she admits.
He almost laughs.
He fetches her a soda with an apologetic grin before they move to the living room. The conversation drifts through a slew of mundane topics as the hour passes, and Alaric listens patiently as Caroline tells him of life back in Mystic Falls.
Eventually, he asks the question he's been dying to ask—no pun intended.
"Why are you here, Caroline?"
She looks at him as if the answer is obvious and answers with an almost patronizing tone in her voice. "I'm going to school here, Mr. Saltzman."
He probably should be focusing on the main point of that sentence, but his mind gets caught up on the formality of address. "I am not your teacher anymore, Caroline," he says.
The tilt of her head is almost comical. "So, what should I call you?"
He mulls it over for a moment. "After everything, and since I have the feeling I'll be seeing a lot of you in the next four years, I think it's about time you start calling me Ric, Caroline."
The overly animated expression on her face and the way her curls bounce around her face tells him only one thing: he's going to have to stock up on blood bags again.
